A Pastoral Letter: New Ways of Being Church in a Digital Milieu
1 A Pastoral Letter: New Ways of Being Church in a Digital Milieu INTRODUCTION 1. Good News to the poor is the mission and goal of all pastoral communications (see Luke 4:18). Through signs, gestures, words, books, moving images, audio, and social communications, the Church has sought to proclaim her message so that all people will hear it in their own native language (see Acts 2:11). To be faithful to this mission of evangelizing communications to the people of the Caribbean today, we will need a new missionary spirit, one that is built upon participation, dialogue, and collaboration and one that speaks to the heart, soul, and religious imagination of our Antillean people. We need a new way of being Church! 2. It is the Lord who sends: Go proclaim—communicate—the Good News “and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…’ (Matthew 28:19). Jesus Christ himself communicates, in his mission, on all levels of human interaction. He preaches and teaches to the masses using stories, parables, and statements and shares in smaller groups with his apostles and disciples. He meets individuals like Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and others in deep and very personal sharing. Evangelizing communication builds on this example of Jesus Christ, always trying to meet people where they are—at their level of knowledge, feeling, and understanding—to bring them from their own life experience closer to the Father and eternal life. 3. The parable of the Good Samaritan emphasizes the relationship possibilities presented by a heart imbued with charity, mercy, and compassion. If anything, the digital age, with its new opportunities and limitations, has helped us to be able to reflect on this relationship in new ways.
[Show full text]